Hardwicke Circus ranks among the most exciting bands to emerge from England in recent years. Its highly charged rock and roll might at times remind you of outfits ranging from the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, the Clash, and Elvis Costello to Southside Johnny, the New York Dolls, the English Beat, the Jam, and assorted Motown outfits. However, nobody sounds quite like Hardwicke Circus, whose music exudes enthusiasm and emotion. Its performances are tight but, importantly, never overly polished or slick. In other words, the music never sounds manufactured or premeditated; it radiates spontaneity and authenticity and seems to come from the heart.
Following a few lineup changes, the band consists of guitarist Jonny Foster, his brother Tom Foster on drums, Jack Pearce on tenor and baritone sax, Lewis Bewley-Taylor on keyboards, and Joe Hurst on bass guitar and mandolin. Jonny Foster, who bears visual and stylistic comparisons to the young Mick Jagger, is the captivating lead singer, but everyone else except Pearce also contributes vocals. The group is based in Carlisle, a small city just south of the Scottish border in northwest England.
Most of Hardwicke Circus’s members look young enough to pass for high school students, but they have already released four fine full-length albums: The Borderland, their 2020 debut; At Her Majesty’s Pleasure, which they recorded on stage during a tour of 15 UK prisons in November 2021; Fly the Flag, their 2023 sophomore studio LP; and the new Cumbria Pizza, a live acoustic set. A third studio album is reportedly set for a spring release.
The current CD is subtitled Their Greatest Hits Unplugged, but like Phil Ochs’s jokingly named Greatest Hits, it contains no bestsellers, just songs that should have climbed the charts. Recorded at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club in May of 2023, the album features four tunes from The Borderland and six from Fly the Flag as well as a version of a previously unreleased single called “Once I’m Gone Your Sun Is Coming Up” and a set-closing cover of Gerry Rafferty’s exquisite 1978 hit, “Baker Street.”
Don’t let the “unplugged” label mislead you into expecting a laid-back folk album. Even in an acoustic setting, this band packs a powerful punch, thanks largely to stinging guitar solos, passionate vocals, and wailing sax parts redolent of Clarence Clemons. Turn up the volume and join the party.
Three Noteworthy Oregon Reissues
I profiled Oregon in 1974, about four years after its members split from the Paul Winter Consort to form their groundbreaking instrumental group. They were already garnering attention with their innovative blend of acoustic jazz, classical, and folk, as well as their use of Indian and other world music. At the time, bassist Glen Moore told me, “We don’t rehearse. We just learn the basic parts to do a composition and then what we do is improvise around it and play off each other.”
Those words seem to have applied throughout Oregon’s long recording career, though the membership underwent some changes. Cofounders Paul McCandless (soprano sax, double-reeds, and pipes) and Ralph Towner (piano and classical guitar) continued to steer the ship into the 21st century. But Colin Walcott, who studied sitar under Ravi Shankar, died in a bus crash in Germany in 1984, and Moore retired from the group in 2015. Filling out the lineup in recent years were bassist Paolino Dalla Porta and drummer Mark Walker.
Today, Oregon seems finally to have called it quits. The group no longer tours, and its last LP of new music appeared in 2017, but the band left us with a catalog of about 30 albums, three of which are getting another shot at the spotlight. Troika, which the band recorded in 1993, was reissued last month and Northwest Passage and Oregon in Moscow, from 1997 and 2000, respectively, are due out January 17.
The nearly hour-long Troika is one of only two discs that the group crafted as a trio, sans percussion. McCandless, Towner, and Moore deliver an elegant collection of originals that emphasize classical guitar, bass, and wood instruments. Though Wolcott is missed, the album frequently evidences the level of imagination and beauty that characterized such early gems as Distant Hills.
Northwest Passage is a fine and relatively folk-oriented set that finds Towner, McCandless, and Moore joined by Walker, who wasn’t yet an official group member, and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan. Bassist Steve Rodby, who is best known for his many years with the Pat Metheny Group, produced the album.
Oregon in Moscow, an atmospheric double album, marked the first time that the outfit – which from the start employed classical elements – recorded with an orchestra, namely the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra. Drawing on material from throughout Oregon’s history, the band and orchestra performed live without overdubbing.
All three recordings merit attention. So, for that matter, does virtually everything in the group’s discography.
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains five decades’ worth of music reviews, interviews, and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.
